College and University Monitor

Columbia University is getting a lot of criticism for inviting Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to speak on campus Wednesday. The university is the oldest institution of higher learning in New York and the fifth oldest nationally.

So why all the outrage? First, Columbia is very liberal with 79 percent of the students saying they are “progressive/very liberal or liberal” compared to 1 percent who say they are conservative, according to Niche.com, an online search app for colleges and schools. They also report a 46 percent to 10 percent edge to Democrats over Republicans when students are asked about who they identify with politically.

In such an environment racist or anti-Semitic views are not well received so it is a shock to some that the prime minister, now aged 93 ⁠— who wrote in his 1970 book “The Malay Dilemma” that “the Jews are not merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively” ⁠— would be offered an invite to speak.

He also has questioned the fact that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, saying the figure was 4 million and that the “Jews rule the world by proxy.”

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder expressed his displeasure when he responded, “Unfortunately, it comes as no shock that the same institution that hosted the Jew-hating president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will be hosting the unabashedly anti-Semitic Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad.” Lauder was referring to the former Iranian president when he spoke on campus amid a storm of controversy in 2007.

Lauder added, “Columbia University should be ashamed of themselves. It is no surprise that incidents of anti-Semitism are on the rise in New York City when it is being preached from the stages of one of its premier universities.”...